Film History of the 1920s Film History of the 1920s 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s Foundations of the Prolific Film Industry: Films really blossomed in the 1920s, expanding upon the foundations of film from earlier years. Most US film production at the start of the decade occurred in or near Hollywood on the West Coast, although some films were still being made in New Jersey and in Astoria on Long Island (Paramount). By the mid-20s, movies were big business (with a capital investment totaling over $2 billion) with some theatres offering double features. By the end of the decade, there were 20 Hollywood studios, and the demand for films was greater than ever. Most people are unaware that the greatest output of feature films in the US occurred in the 1920s and 1930s (averaging about 800 film releases in a year) - nowadays, it is remarkable when production exceeds 500 films in a year.

Throughout most of the decade, silent films were the predominant product of the film industry, having evolved from vaudevillian roots. But the films were becoming bigger (or longer), costlier, and more polished. They were being manufactured, assembly-line style, in Hollywood's 'entertainment factories,' in which production was broken down and organized into its various components (writing, costuming, makeup, directing, etc.). Even the earliest films were organized into genres or types, with instantly-recognizable storylines, settings, costumes, and characters. The major genre emphasis was on swashbucklers, historical extravaganzas, and melodramas, although all kinds of films were being produced throughout the decade. Films varied from sexy melodramas and biblical epics by Cecil B. DeMille, to westerns (such as Cruze's The Covered Wagon (1923)), horror films, gangster/crime films, war films, the first feature documentary or non-fictional narrative film (Robert Flaherty's Nanook of the North (1922)), romances, mysteries, and comedies (from the silent comic masters Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd).

The Major Film Studios: The Big Five 1920-1930 was the decade between the end of the Great War and the Depression following the Stock Market Crash. Film theaters and studios were not initially affected in this decade by the Crash in late 1929. The basic patterns and foundations of the film industry (and its economic organization) were established in the 1920s. The studio system was essentially born with long-term contracts for stars, lavish production values, and increasingly rigid control of directors and stars by the studio's production chief and in-house publicity departments. After World War I and into the early 1920s, America was the leading producer of films in the world - using Thomas Ince's "factory system" of production, although the system did limit the creativity of many directors. Production was in the hands of the major studios (that really flourished after 1927 for almost 20 years), and the star system was burgeoning. Originally, in the earliest years of the motion picture industry, production, distribution, and exhibition were separately controlled. When the industry rapidly grew, these functions became integrated under one directorship to maximize profits, something called vertical integration.

There were eight major (and minor) studios (see below) that dominated the industry. They were the ones that had most successfully consolidated and integrated all aspects of a film's development. By 1929, the film-making firms that were to rule and monopolize Hollywood for the next half-century were the giants or the majors, sometimes dubbed The Big Five. They produced more than 90 percent of the fiction films in America and distributed their films both nationally and internationally. Each studio somewhat differentiated its products from other studios. See History of Film Studio Logos . Warner Bros. Pictures was incorporated in 1923 by Polish brothers (Jack, Harry, Albert, and Sam). In 1925, Warner Brothers merged with First National, forming Warner Bros.-First National Pictures. The studio's first principal asset was Rin Tin Tin. It became prominent by 1927 due to its introduction of talkies ( The Jazz Singer (1927) ) and early 30s gangster films . It was known as the "Depression studio." In the 40s, it specialized in Bugs Bunny animations and other cartoons.

1923-1925 1929-1935 2. Adolph Zukor's Famous Players (1912) and Jesse Lasky's Feature Play - merged in 1916 to form Famous Players-Lasky Corporation. It spent $1 million on United Studios' property (on Marathon Street) in 1926. The Famous Players-Lasky Corporation became Paramount studios in 1927, and was officially named Paramount Pictures in 1935. Its greatest silent era stars were Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, and Rudolph Valentino; Golden Age stars included Mae West, W.C. Fields, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and director Cecil B. DeMille. 3. RKO (Radio-Keith-Orpheum) Pictures, evolved from the Mutual Film Corporation (1912), was established in 1928 as a subsidiary of RCA. It was formed by RCA, Keith-Orpheum Theaters, and the FBO Company (Film Booker's Organization) - which was owned by Joseph P. Kennedy (who had already purchased what remained of Mutual). This was the smallest studio of the majors.

It kept financially afloat with top-grossing Astaire-Rogers musicals in the 30s, King Kong (1933) , and Citizen Kane (1941) . At one time, RKO was acquired by eccentric millionaire Howard Hughes. 1929-1955 4. Marcus Loew of Loew's, Inc., was the parent firm of what eventually became Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Metro Pictures Corporation was a production company founded in 1916 by Richard A. Rowland and Louis B. Mayer. In 1918, Mayer left this partnership to start up his own production company in 1918, called Louis B. Mayer Pictures. In 1920, Metro Pictures Corporation (with its already-acquired Goldwyn Pictures Corporation) was purchased by early theater exhibitor Marcus Loew of Loew's Inc. In another acquisition, Loew merged his Metro-Goldwyn production company with Louis B. Mayer Pictures.

So, in summary, MGM, first named Metro-Goldwyn Pictures, was ultimately formed in 1924 from the merger of three US film production companies: Metro Pictures Corporation (1916) Goldwyn Pictures Corporation (1917) Louis B. Mayer Pictures Company (1918) The famous MGM lion roar in the studio's opening logo was first recorded and viewed in a film in 1928. Irving Thalberg (nicknamed the 'boy wonder') was head of production at MGM from 1924 until his death in 1936. Its greatest early successes were The Big Parade (1925) , Broadway Melody (1929), Grand Hotel (1932) , Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) , A Night at the Opera (1935) , The Good Earth (1937), Gone With the Wind (1939) , The Wizard of Oz (1939) , as well as Tarzan films, Tom and Jerry cartoons, and stars such as Clark Gable, Greta Garbo, and Spencer Tracy.

1916-1924 1928-1956 5. Fox Film Corporation/Foundation, was founded in 1912 by NY nickelodeon owner William Fox (originally a garment industry worker). Its first film was Life's Shop Window (1914). In 1935, it became 20th-Century Fox, formed from the merger of two companies: 20th Century Pictures Company (founded in 1933 by Darryl F. Zanuck, the head of production at Warners and Joseph Schenck, brother of Nicholas Schenk, president of Loew's, the parent company of MGM) Fox Film It became most known for Fox Movietone news and then B-westerns; it was also famous for Shirley Temple films in the mid-30s and Betty Grable musicals in the 40s. Pre-1930 1933 1935 The Big-Five studios had vast studios with elaborate sets for film production.

They owned their own film-exhibiting theatres (about 50% of the seating capacity in the US in mostly first-run houses in major cities), as well as production and distribution facilities. They distributed their films to this network of studio-owned, first-run theaters (or movie palaces), mostly in urban areas, which charged high ticket prices and drew huge audiences. They required blind or block bookings of films, whereby theatre owners were required to rent a block of films (often cheaply-made, less-desirable B-pictures) in order for the studio to agree to distribute the one prestige A-level picture that the theatre owner wanted to exhibit. This technique set the terms for a film's release and patterns of exhibition and guaranteed success for the studio's productions. [Monopolistic studio control lasted twenty years until the late 1940s, when a federal decree (in U.S. vs.

Paramount) ordered the studios to divest their theatres, similar to the rulings against the MPPC - the Edison Trust.] The Minor Film Studios: The Little Three Three smaller, minor studios were dubbed The Little Three, because each of them lacked one of the three elements required in vertical integration - owning their own theaters: 1936-1942 "Poverty Row" Studios and Other Independents: Other studios or independents also existed in a shabby area in Hollywood dubbed "Poverty Row" (Sunset Blvd. and Gower Street) where cheap, independent pictures were made with low budgets, stock footage, and second-tier actors. It was the site of Harry and Jack Cohn's new business, the C.B.C. Film Sales Company (later becoming Columbia Pictures). Many of the films of the independents were either horror films, westerns, science-fiction, or thrillers: Disney Studios - specializing in animation; Walt and Roy Disney originally opened their first studio in 1923 in Los Angeles in the back of the Holly-Vermont Realty office, and called it Disney Bros.

Studio; in a few years, they opened a new facility in downtown LA; in the late 30s, they relocated to a 51-acre lot in Burbank, and changed their name to Walt Disney Productions the Monogram Picture Corporation - Rayart Pictures, which had taken over the old Selig Studio in Echo Park in 1924, became Monogram Pictures in 1930; it was founded by W. Ray Johnston to make mostly inexpensive Westerns and series (Charlie Chan, the Bowery Boys, etc.) Selznick International Pictures / David O. Selznick - it was formed in 1935 and headed up by David O. Selznick (previously the head of production at RKO), the son of independent film producer Lewis J. Selznick, the founder of Selznick Pictures Samuel Goldwyn Pictures - headed up by independent film producer Samuel L.

Goldwyn Republic Pictures - founded in 1935 by the merger of smaller 'poverty row' studios: Consolidated Film Industries, Mascot, Monogram and Liberty, and headed by Herbert Yates of Consolidated Extravagant Movie Palaces: The major film studios built luxurious 'picture palaces' that were designed for orchestras to play music to accompany projected films. The 3,300-seat Strand Theater opened in 1914 in New York City, marking the end of the nickelodeon era and the beginning of an age of the luxurious movie palaces. By 1920, there were more than 20,000 movie houses operating in the US. The largest theatre in the world (with over 6,000 seats), the Roxy Theater (dubbed "The Cathedral of the Motion Picture"), opened in New York City in 1927, with a 6,200 seat capacity. It was opened by impresario Samuel Lionel "Roxy" Rothafel at a cost of $10 million.

The first feature film shown at the Roxy Theater was UA's The Love(s) of Sunya (1927) starring Gloria Swanson (she claimed that it was her personal favorite film) and John Boles. [The Roxy was finally closed in 1960.] The Roxy was unchallenged as a showplace until Radio City Music Hall opened five years later. Grauman's Theatres: Impresario Sid Grauman built a number of movie palaces in the Los Angeles area in this time period: the Million Dollar Theater (on S. Broadway in downtown Los Angeles), the first movie palace in Los Angeles, opened in February, 1918 with 2,345 seats, and premiered the William S.

Hart western film The Silent Man (1917) the Egyptian Theatre (on Hollywood Boulevard) opened in 1922 with 1,760 seats; it was the first major movie palace outside of downtown Los Angeles, and noted as having Hollywood's first movie premiere; its opening film was Robin Hood (1922) that starred Douglas Fairbanks; the theatre's creation was inspired by the discovery of King Tut's tomb that same year the now-famous Chinese Theater, with 2,258 seats, opened in Hollywood (on Hollywood Boulevard) in May, 1927 with the premiere of Cecil B. De Mille's King of Kings (1927). Star Imprints at Grauman's: Grauman, dubbed as "Hollywood's Master Showman," established the tradition of having Hollywood stars place their prints in cement in front of the theater to create an instant tourist attraction ever since. (Legend has it that during the theatre's construction, silent screen actress Norma Talmadge accidentally stepped into wet cement and inspired the tradition.

Grauman immortalized his own footprints, and invited Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks to do the same.) Listed below are the first 10 stars, beginning in the spring of 1927, to imprint themselves (with handprints, footprints, or signatures) in the concrete of the Chinese Theatre's forecourt: Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, Apr. 30, 1927 Norma Talmadge, May 18, 1927 Norma Shearer, Aug. 1, 1927 Harold Lloyd, Nov. 21, 1927 William S. Hart, Nov. 28, 1927 Tom Mix and Tony (his horse), Dec. 12, 1927 Colleen Moore, Dec 19, 1927 Gloria Swanson, 1927 (specific date unknown) Constance Talmadge, 1927 (specific date unknown) Charlie Chaplin, Jan, 1928 Pickford and Fairbanks: Two of the biggest silent movie stars of the era were Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford.

America flocked to the movies to see the Queen of Hollywood, dubbed "America's Sweetheart" and the most popular star of the generation - "Our Mary" Mary Pickford. She had been a child star, and had worked at Biograph as a bit actress in 1909, and only ten years later was one of the most influential figures in Hollywood at Paramount. In 1916, she was the first star to become a millionaire. She was married to another great star, Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. Their wedding in late March, 1920 was a major cultural event, although it was highly controversial since both of them had to divorce their spouses so they could marry each other. She was presented with a wedding gift - "Pickfair" [the first syllables of their last names], a twenty-two room palatial mansion (former hunting lodge) in the agricultural area of Beverly Hills - marking the start of the movement of stars to lavish homes in the suburbs of W. Hollywood and the making of Hollywood royalty.

[The couple remained married from 1920-1935.] Strangely, Mary Pickford's downfall began after she bobbed her long curly hair, one of moviedom's first fashion trends, in 1928. Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. also became an American legend after switching from light comedies and starring in a series of exciting, costumed swashbuckler and adventure/fantasy films, starting with The Mark of Zorro (1920), soon followed with his expensively-financed, lavish adventure film Robin Hood (1922) with gigantic sets (famous for the scene in which he eluded death from sword-wielding attackers by jumping off a castle balcony and sliding down a 50 ft. curtain), and the first of four versions of the classic Arabian nights tale by director Raoul Walsh, The Thief of Bagdad (1924). This magical film used state of the art, revolutionary visual effects (for its smoke-belching dragon and underwater spider, the flying horse, the famed flying carpet, and magic armies arising from the dust) and displayed legendary production design.

Another first occurred in 1926 - a Hollywood film premiere double-featured two films together: Fairbanks' The Black Pirate (1926) with early two-color Technicolor (and the superstar's most famous stunt of riding down a ship's sail on the point of a knife) and Mary Pickford's melodramatic film Sparrows (1926). Fairbanks scored again at the close of the decade with The Iron Mask (1929). The first and only film that co-featured both stars was a talkie version of The Taming of the Shrew (1929). Pickford's Coquette (1929), her first all-talking film, won her an Academy Award, but she retired prematurely four years later. Other 1920s Box-Office Stars: The top box-office stars in the 1920s included Harold Lloyd, Gloria Swanson, Tom Mix, Norma Talmadge, Rudolph Valentino, Douglas Fairbanks Sr., Colleen Moore, Norma Shearer, John Barrymore, Greta Garbo, Lon Chaney, Sr., Clara Bow, and "Little Mary" Pickford.

Hauntingly mysterious and divine, Greta Garbo's first American film was The Torrent (1926), followed quickly by The Temptress (1926). Her first major starring vehicle was as a sultry temptress in torrid, prone love scenes with off-screen lover John Gilbert in Flesh and the Devil (1926). MGM renamed Broadway actress Lucille Le Sueur and christened her "Joan Crawford" in 1925. And Louise Brooks made her debut film in mid-decade with Street of Forgotten Men (1925). Glamorous MGM star Norma Shearer insured her future success as "The First Lady of the Screen" by marrying genius MGM production supervisor Irving Thalberg in 1927. Clara Bow, a red-haired, lower-class Brooklyn girl was subjected to a major publicity campaign by B. P. Schulberg (of Preferred Pictures (1920-1926) and then Paramount's head of production in the late 20s and early 30s).

He promoted his up-and-coming, vivacious future star as his own personal star, after grooming and molding her for her star-making hit film The Plastic Age (1925) as a flirtatious flapper - the "hottest Jazz Baby in Film." Bow was also exceptional in Dancing Mothers (1926) and in her smash hit Mantrap (1926), and was further promoted with teaser campaigns for It (1927). She soon became known as "The It (sex appeal) Girl" (in the high-living age of flappers) after its February 1927 release. She was boosted to Paramount Studios' super-stardom in the late 1920s by more publicity campaigns, fan magazine glamorization, and rumor-spreading. Bow also starred in the epic WWI film Wings (1927), and in 1928 became the highest paid movie star (at $35,000/week).

But by 1933, after years of victimizing exploitation, she had gone into serious decline and retired due to hard-drinking, exhaustion, gambling, emotional problems, a poor choice of roles, the revelation of a heavy working-class Brooklyn accent in the talkies, and a burgeoning weight problem. Lon Chaney, Sr., the "man of a thousand faces," starred in the earliest version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), and then poignantly portrayed the title character of the Paris Opera House in The Phantom of the Opera (1925) in his signature role. The unveiling of the phantom's face, when Christine (Mary Philbin) rips off his mask - was (and still is) a startling sequence. Young screen actress, platinum blonde starlet Jean Harlow was also 'discovered' and soon contracted with aviation millionaire/movie mogul Howard Hughes to replace the female lead in his soon-to-be-released, re-made sound version of Hell's Angels (1930) , another exciting WWI film about British flying aces.

Janet Gaynor: Another famous screen couple, dubbed "America's Lovebirds" or "America's Sweethearts" were romantic film stars Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell who were eventually paired together in twelve films. [The fact that Farrell was homosexual was kept from the public.] Their first film was Seventh Heaven (1927), a classic romantic melodrama. For their work in Seventh Heaven, Janet Gaynor received the first "Best Actress" Academy Award and director Frank Borzage received the first "Best Director" Academy Award. Janet Gaynor was also honored in the same year with an Academy Award for her exquisite acting in German director F. W. Murnau's first American film - the beautiful Fox-produced Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) , often considered the finest silent film ever made by a Hollywood studio. Murnau's succeeding films were The Four Devils (1928) and Our Daily Bread (1930), with his last film the sensual semi-travelogue documentary Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (1931) shot with documentarist Robert Flaherty.

(A week before Tabu's premiere in early March 1931, Murnau died in a car accident.) Film History of the 1920s Facts & Trivia - History from the Tony Awards - TonyAwards.com - The American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards® - Official Website by IBM the American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards® Play productions with the most Tony nominations: Tom Stoppard's The Coast of Utopia (2007) and August Wilson's Fences (2010 revival) - 10 Play production that has won the most Tony Awards: Tom Stoppard's The Coast of Utopia (2007) - 7 Musical productions with the most Tony nominations: Hamilton (2016) - 16 Musical production that has won the most Tonys: The Producers, the new Mel Brooks musical (2001) - 12 Musical revival with most Tony Awards: South Pacific (2008) - 7 Musical revival with most Tony nominations: Kiss Me, Kate (2000) - 12 Performer with most Tony nominations: Chita Rivera - 10 Performers with the most Tony Awards: Audra McDonald

 – 6; Julie Harris – 6 including one Special Tony Award Individual who has received most Tony Awards: Harold Prince - 21 Composer with most Tony Awards: Stephen Sondheim - 8 Choreographer with most Tony Awards: Bob Fosse - 8 (plus one for direction) Host of most Tony Awards telecasts: Angela Lansbury - 5 The Phantom of the Opera (1988 - ) Theatre that housed the most Tony-winning Best Plays and Best Musicals: Richard Rodgers Theatre - 11 Number of ties in Tony history: 10 TONYS TRIVIA Coasting to Glory Tom Stoppard's epic trilogy The Coast of Utopia (2007) earned seven Tony Awards, more than any other play in Tony history.

It also received a record 10 nominations, tied with the 2010 revival of August Wilson's Fences for the most nominations for a play production. Musical Champions Hamilton (2016) holds the record as the most-nominated production in Tony history, with 16. In second place are The Producers, the new Mel Brooks musical (2001) and Billy Elliot, The Musical (2009) with 15 each. The Producers is the most-winning show, triumphing in 12 categories including Best Musical. The Prince of Broadway Harold Prince has earned more Tony Awards than anyone else (21 awards), including eight for directing, eight for producing, two as producer of the year's Best Musical, and three special Tony Awards. Send in the Tonys Stephen Sondheim has received eight Tony Awards, more than any other composer. He has won seven times: Best Music and Best Lyrics for Company (1971); and Best Score for Follies (1972), A Little Night Music (1973), Sweeney Todd (1979), Into the Woods (1988) and Passion (1994).

His eighth honor was a 2008 Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre. Dancin' Man Bob Fosse is the choreographer with the most Tony Awards, with an unprecedented eight Tony Awards for choreography, as well as one for direction. Choreography: The Pajama Game (1955), Damn Yankees (1956), Redhead (1959), Little Me (1963), Sweet Charity (1966), Pippin (1973), Dancin' (1978), and Big Deal (1986). Direction: Pippin (1973). The Hostess with the Mostess Angela Lansbury has hosted or co-hosted more Tony telecasts than any other individual, with five telecasts (1968, 1971, 1987, 1988, and 1989).

In second place, with four telecasts each, are Neil Patrick Harris (2009, 2011, 2012, and 2013) and Hugh Jackman (2003, 2004, 2005, and 2014). Eight is Great Jason Robards Jr. received more Tony Award nominations than any other male actor. His eight nominations were for Long Day's Journey Into Night (1957), The Disenchanted (1959), Toys in the Attic (1960), After the Fall (1964), Hughie (1965), The Country Girl (1972), A Moon for the Misbegotten (1974), and A Touch of the Poet (1978). Out of all of those nominations, he only won one Tony Award, for The Disenchanted. Four-play Boyd Gaines and Raúl Esparza are the only men to have been nominated in all four performance categories in which an actor may be eligible: Best Actor in a Play, Best Actor in a Musical, Best Featured Actor in a Play, and Best Featured Actor in a Musical.

Three women have been nominated in all four corresponding performance categories: Angela Lansbury, Jan Maxwell, and Audra McDonald. Reproductions The revival that won the most Tony Awards was South Pacific (2008), with seven. Kiss Me, Kate (2000) received 12 nominations, the most for any revival, but it only won five Tonys. 0 for 12 The musical that fared most poorly on Tony night was The Scottsboro Boys in 2011. The show received 12 nominations but won no awards. 0 for 9 The play that fared the worst on Tony night was Indiscretions (1995), which won no awards despite having received nine nominations. Phan-tastic! The Best Musical with the longest Broadway run to date is the 1988 winner, The Phantom of the Opera, which opened on January 26, 1988 and is still going strong. Mr. Versatility Michael Blakemore is the only director to win Tony Awards as Best Director of a Play and Best Director of a Musical in the same year.

He won for Copenhagen (play) and Kiss Me, Kate (musical) in 2000. Triple Crown Bob Fosse was the only director to win a Tony, an Oscar, and an Emmy in the same year (1973). He won two Tonys (direction and choreography) for Pippin, an Oscar for Cabaret and an Emmy for "Liza with a Z." At the Helm Mike Nichols has won more Tony Awards for Best Direction of a Play than any other individual. His six nods were for Barefoot in the Park (1964), Luv and The Odd Couple (1965), Plaza Suite (1968), The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1972), The Real Thing (1984), and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman (2012). He has also won in other categories for directing the musical Monty Python's Spamalot (2005), and for producing Annie (1977) and The Real Thing (1984). That makes a total of nine Tonys. Together Forever Three pairs of performers have shared a single nomination for playing separate roles.

Donal Donnelly and Patrick Bedford were jointly nominated as Best Actor for Philadelphia, Here I Come! (1966). John Kani and Winston Ntshona won jointly as Best Actor in a Play for the double bill Sizwe Banzi is Dead and The Island (1975). Emily Skinner and Alice Ripley (playing a set of Siamese twins) were nominated as Best Actress in a Musical for Side Show (1998). All My Children Lauri Peters shared a single 1960 nomination as Best Featured Actress in a Musical with Kathy Dunn, Evanna Lien, Mary Susan Locke, and Marilyn Rogers-and two boys, William Snowden, and Joseph Stewart. They played various younger Von Trapp children in the original production of The Sound of Music. Three Billys David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik, and Kiril Kulish are the only performers to have jointly won a Tony Award for their alternating performances of a single role: the title character of Billy Elliot, The Musical (2009). In Her Genes Amanda Plummer is the only Tony Award winner whose parents have both won Tonys. She won as Best Featured Actress in a Play for Agnes of God (1982).

Her father, Christopher Plummer, won as Best Actor in a Musical for Cyrano (1974) and Best Actor in a Play for Barrymore (1997). Her mother, Tammy Grimes, won as Featured Actress in a Musical for The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1961) and Best Actress in a Play for Private Lives (1970). A Very Good Year Five actresses have won a Tony and an Oscar in the same year. Shirley Booth won a Tony for The Time of the Cuckoo and an Oscar for Come Back, Little Sheba (1953). Audrey Hepburn won a Tony for Ondine and an Oscar for Roman Holiday (1954). Ellen Burstyn won a Tony for Same Time, Next Year and an Oscar for Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1975). Mercedes Ruehl won a Tony for Lost in Yonkers and an Oscar for The Fisher King (1991). Judi Dench won a Tony for Amy's View and an Oscar for Shakespeare in Love (1999). Leading Ladies Audra McDonald has won six Tony Awards for performance, more than any other individual.

She is the only person to have won Tony Awards in four different acting categories. Julie Harris also earned six Tony Awards. She won five competitive awards for performance, and received a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre. Leading Men Boyd Gaines and Frank Langella are the male performers with the most Tony Awards in acting categories. Both have won four to date. Gaines won for performances in The Heidi Chronicles (1989); She Loves Me (1994); Contact (2000) and Gypsy (2008). Langella was honored for Seascape (1975); Fortune's Fool (2002); Frost/Nixon (2007) and The Father (2016). Diva! Diva! Diva! Angela Lansbury and Gwen Verdon have each won four Tony Awards in the musical categories, more than any other actress. Ms. Lansbury won for Mame (1966), Dear World (1969), Gypsy (1975), and Sweeney Todd (1979). She earned a fifth Tony for her work in the Noël Coward play Blithe Spirit in 2009. Ms.

Verdon won for Can-Can (1954), Damn Yankees (1956), New Girl in Town (1958) and Redhead (1959). Déjà Vu Eight performers have won the Tony and later the Oscar for the same role: José Ferrer in Cyrano de Bergerac (Tony: 1947/Oscar: 1950), Shirley Booth in Come Back, Little Sheba (1950/1953), Yul Brynner in The King and I (1952/1956), Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady (1957/1964), Anne Bancroft in The Miracle Worker (1960/1962), Paul Scofield in A Man for All Seasons (1962/1966), Jack Albertson in The Subject Was Roses (1965/1968) and Joel Grey in Cabaret (1967/1973). Lila Kedrova did it the other way around.

She won an Oscar for Zorba the Greek, and 20 years later won a Tony for the same role in Zorba (1964 Oscar/1984 Tony). You Can Say That Again The Tony Award-winning play with the longest title was The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade (1966). That's 151 letters, 26 words, 44 syllables (and four Tonys). It was known as Marat/Sade for short. Making Herstory In 2015, Fun Home became the first show written entirely by women to win the Tony Award as Best Musical. Its authors are Lisa Kron (Best Book, Best Score - lyrics) and Jeanine Tesori (Best Score - music); the show’s source material is a graphic memoir by Alison Bechdel. The Soul of Wit The Tony Award-winning play with the shortest title was Da (1978). Twice Blessed Five individuals in Tony history have been nominated in two different performance categories in the same year.

Amanda Plummer was the first in 1982, when she was nominated as Best Actress in a Play for A Taste of Honey and Best Featured Actress in a Play for Agnes of God. She won for Agnes of God. Dana Ivey made history in 1984 as an acting nominee for both a play and a musical. She was nominated as Best Featured Actress in a Play for Heartbreak House and Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Sunday in the Park with George. Kate Burton was nominated for two plays in 2002: Hedda Gabler (leading role) and The Elephant Man (featured). Jan Maxwell was nominated twice in 2010, for the plays The Royal Family (lead) and Lend Me a Tenor (featured). Mark Rylance snagged two nominations in 2014, for Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (featured) and Richard III (lead). He won for Twelfth Night. Gender Bender Ben Vereen and Patina Miller are the only pair of individuals of different genders to win a Tony Award for portraying the same character.

They were honored for their performances as "Leading Player" in Pippin, he in 1973 for the original Broadway production (Best Actor in a Musical); she for the 2013 revival (Best Actress in a Musical). All in the Family Three sets of family members have been nominated for Tonys in the same category in the same year: Richard Rodgers and daughter Mary Rodgers were both nominated as the composer of the Best Musical in 1960; he for The Sound of Music and she for Once Upon a Mattress. He won. Lynn Redgrave and niece Natasha Richardson were both nominated for Best Actress in a Play in 1993; Ms. Redgrave for Shakespeare for My Father and Ms. Richardson for Anna Christie. Jennifer Ehle and her mother, Rosemary Harris, were both nominated for Best Actress in a Play in 2000. Ms. Ehle won for her performance in The Real Thing. Harris had appeared in Waiting in the Wings. Three Generations Adam Guettel is the only Tony winner who is both the grandson of another winner and the son of a Tony nominee.

Guettel earned two Tonys in 2005: Best Score and Best Orchestrations for The Light in the Piazza. His grandfather, Richard Rodgers, won six Tonys as a composer and producer of such shows as South Pacific, The King and I, No Strings, and The Sound of Music. He also received three Special Tony Awards. Guettel's mother, Mary Rodgers (Richard's daughter) was a 1960 Tony nominee as the composer of Once Upon a Mattress. At This Performance... Only one cast replacement has ever been nominated for a Tony Award in a competitive category. Larry Kert was nominated for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance in Company (1971). Dean Jones originated the role (and can be heard on the cast album) but left the production soon after the opening. Renaissance Men Tommy Tune, Harvey Fierstein and Trey Parker have each received Tony Awards in four different categories.

Tune won as Best Actor in a Musical for My One and Only; Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Seesaw; Best Choreography for A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine, My One and Only, Grand Hotel: The Musical, and The Will Rogers Follies; and Best Director of a Musical for Nine, Grand Hotel: The Musical, and The Will Rogers Follies. Fierstein received Tonys as Best Actor and as the author of the Best Play for Torch Song Trilogy; he also won Best Book of a Musical for La Cage aux Folles and Best Actor in a Musical for Hairspray. Parker won his four on a single night, for The Book of Mormon: Best Book, Best Score, Best Direction, and (as a producer) Best Musical. On the Alley The Tony Awards ceremony has been presented at the Shubert Theatre eight times, more than at any other Broadway house.

House of Hits The Richard Rodgers Theatre (formerly the 46th Street Theatre) has housed the most Tony Award-winning Best Plays and Best Musicals: 11, including Guys and Dolls (1951), Damn Yankees (1956), Redhead (1959), How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1962), 1776 (1969), Raisin (1974), Nine (1982), Fences (1987), Lost in Yonkers (1991), In The Heights (2008) and Hamilton (2016). Short but Sweet Passion (1994) was the Tony Award winning Best Musical with the shortest run (280 performances), and Rags (1987) was the Tony-nominated Best Musical with the fewest regular performances (it closed after only four). What a Scene! Oliver Smith is the scenic designer with the most Tony Awards.

He collected eight Tonys, all within a nine-year period: My Fair Lady (1957), West Side Story (1958), The Sound of Music (1960), Becket (1961), Camelot (1961), Hello, Dolly! (1964) and Baker Street (1965), as well as a special Tony Award (1965). Light the Lights! Jules Fisher has won nine Tony Awards, more than any other lighting designer. He won for Pippin (1973), Ulysses in Nighttown (1974), Dancin' (1978), Grand Hotel: the Musical (1990), The Will Rogers Follies (1991), Jelly's Last Jam (1992), and, with Peggy Eisenhauer, Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk (1996), Assassins (2004), and Lucky Guy (2013). He has received a total of 20 nominations as a lighting designer and one as a producer, of Dancin’.

Ties in Tony History There have been a number of ties in Tony Awards history, including: Actress in a Musical (1958): Gwen Verdon, New Girl in Town and Thelma Ritter, New Girl in Town Featured Actor in a Musical (1959): Russell Nype, Goldilocks, and Leonard Stone, Redhead Musical (1960): The Sound of Music and Fiorello! Actress in a Musical (1962): Anna Maria Alberghetti, Carnival! and Diahann Carroll, No Strings Actress in a Musical (1968): Patricia Routledge, Darling of the Day and Leslie Uggams, Hallelujah, Baby! Costume Design (1977): Theoni V.

Aldredge, Annie and Santo Loquasto, The Cherry Orchard Actress in a Play (1979): Constance Cummings, Wings and Carole Shelley, The Elephant Man Scenic Design (1980): John Lee Beatty, Talley's Folly and David Mitchell, Barnum Score (1993): John Kander/Fred Ebb, Kiss of the Spider Woman and Pete Townshend, The Who's Tommy Orchestrations (2009): Martin Koch, Billy Elliot, The Musical and Michael Starobin and Tom Kitt, Next to Normal Did You Catch That? Dolores Gray performed the shortest-lived Tony Award-winning role. She won a Tony Award for her performance in Carnival in Flanders (1953), a musical that ran only six performances. His and Hers Some of the husbands-and-wife couples who have both won Tony Awards: Hume Cronyn won for featured actor in a play for Hamlet (1964). His wife, Jessica Tandy, won three Tony Awards for Best Actress in a Play: for A Streetcar Named Desire (1948), The Gin Game (1978), and Foxfire 1983.

Phyllis Newman won for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Subways Are for Sleeping (1962). Her husband, Adolph Green, won Tony Awards for the book and/or lyrics for Wonderful Town (1953), Hallelujah, Baby! (1968), Applause (1970), On The Twentieth Century (1978), and The Will Rogers Follies (1991). Actress Anne Bancroft won Tony Awards for Two for the Seesaw (1958) and The Miracle Worker (1960). Her husband, Mel Brooks, won three Tonys in 2001 for The Producers, the new Mel Brooks musical. He took home medallions for Best Book of a Musical, Best Score, and Best Musical (as a producer). In 1996, Zoe Caldwell won the Tony (her fourth) as Best Actress in a Play for her work in Master Class. The production was honored as that year's Best Play, which earned her husband, Robert Whitehead, his third Tony Award, as one of its producers.

Director, choreographer, and nine-time Tony-winner Bob Fosse was married to four-time Tony-winning performer Gwen Verdon. Multiple Tony-winning director/choreographer Kathleen Marshall (Wonderful Town, The Pajama Game, Anything Goes) is married to Scott Landis, a Tony-winner for producing The Pajama Game (2006). Shaffer x 2 Twin brothers Peter Shaffer and Anthony Shaffer both won Tony Awards in the Best Play category. Anthony was honored for Sleuth (1971). Peter earned Tony Awards for Equus (1975) and Amadeus (1981). Our One and Only The only one-person play to win the Best Play Tony Award was I Am My Own Wife by Douglas Wright (2004). Its star, Jefferson Mays, also won a Tony that year, as Best Actor in a Play.

Tony and Oscar Tony Award-winning Best Plays and Best Musicals that were turned into Academy Award-winning Best Pictures include My Fair Lady (Tony, 1957; Oscar, 1964), The Sound of Music (Tony 1960; Oscar 1965), A Man for All Seasons (Tony, 1962; Oscar, 1966), and Amadeus (Tony, 1981; Oscar, 1984). Though they were both based on the same notorious shipwreck, the 1997 Best Musical Titanic is not otherwise connected with the film of the same title that won the Best Picture award in the same year. The original Broadway production of Chicago didn't win any Tony Awards in 1976, but in 1997 a new production won the Tony as Best Revival, and an Oscar-winning Best Picture followed in 2002. EGOTS: They're the Top Only a few artists have won all four of the entertainment industry's top competitive honors: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Awards.

The list of these multi-talented "EGOTs" includes: Performers John Gielgud, Helen Hayes, Audrey Hepburn, and Rita Moreno Director/producer/performer Mike Nichols Composers Marvin Hamlisch, Robert Lopez (won daytime Emmys), and Richard Rodgers Orchestrator Jonathan Tunick Performer/producer Whoopi Goldberg (won daytime Emmys) Producer Scott Rudin James Earl Jones, Quincy Jones, Liza Minnelli, and Barbra Streisand have each won three of these awards and received a special, non-competitive version of the fourth. Andrew Lloyd Webber has won Tony, Oscar, and Grammy Awards, while his production company, Really Useful Films, has received an International Emmy Award. Worth Waiting For Barbara Cook received her first Tony Award and nomination in 1958, for creating the role of Marian (the Librarian) Paroo in The Music Man. She was next nominated in 2010 for her performance in Sondheim on Sondheim.

That’s a 52-year gap, the longest any individual has had to wait between nominations (though in the interim, she starred in the 2002 revue Barbara Cook in Mostly Sondheim, which earned a nomination as Best Special Theatrical Event for the show’s producers). Cook beat out Jane Fonda, who received her first nomination in 1960 and her second 49 years later, in 2009. Children and Art The youngest performer to win a Tony Award is Frankie Michaels, who was honored in 1966 for his work in Mame, shortly after he turned 11. The youngest actress is Daisy Eagan, who was 11 when she won for The Secret Garden in 1991. The youngest nominee was an 8-year-old Evanna Lien, as the original Gretl in The Sound of Music (1960). The four girls who created the title character of Matilda The Musical on Broadway—Sophia Gennusa (9), Oona Laurence (10), Bailey Ryon (11) and Milly Shapiro (10)—are the youngest individuals to receive Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre.

Life Imitates Art Past Tony-winners Michael Cerveris and Donna Murphy were both Tony-nominated in 2007 for playing a pair of past Tony-winners. They starred in the musical LoveMusik, in which Cerveris played composer Kurt Weill (Best Score for Street Scene in 1947) and Murphy portrayed his wife, performer Lotte Lenya (Featured Actress in a Musical for Threepenny Opera, 1956). Back for More The only play to have won a Best Revival Tony in three different productions is Death of a Salesman, in 1984, 1999, and 2012. In addition, the original production of Arthur Miller's drama won the Best Play award in 1949. What a Bargain! Tickets to the first Tony Awards ceremony in 1947 cost $7.00 each. Given the event's overwhelming success, the price shot up the very next year, to $10. When Broadway Babies Say Goodnight... The first Tony ceremony began with supper at 9:00 p.m. at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

Entertainment and dancing continued until midnight, at which time the awards were announced live over the radio. Way Back When During the first two years of the Tonys (1947 and 1948), there was no official Tony Award. The winners were presented with a scroll and, in addition, a money clip, a cigarette lighter (for the men) or a compact (for the women).

Question: What is the theatre equivalent of the US film industry's 'Oscar'?
Answer: THE 'TONY'